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" Living in New York City, I don&amp;#039;t get a whole lot of quiet time. I fall asleep to sirens and wake up to garbage trucks. Needless to say, meditating \u2014 or relaxing at all, for that matter \u2014 in the city that never sleeps isn&amp;#039;t easy. So when my boyfriend brought up trying a sensory deprivation tank, I was intrigued. After Googling what exactly it was \u2014 because, to be honest, I had no idea \u2014 I was more than willing to take the plunge. It sounded easy enough: float in an isolation tank full of water and 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt for an hour. No light, no sound, no distractions \u2014 nothing but your (naked!) body. Yep, I&amp;#039;m in. The Beginning At Lift / Next Level Floats in Brooklyn, a single float costs you $99. As soon as I walked through the door, I was greeted and taken back into one of their tank rooms, equipped with a shower and a lit-up pod that looked like it was dropped straight out of a sci-fi movie. I was told to shower, then the timer would start as soon as I got in. After enclosing myself into what felt like a completely different universe, I had only one thought: How am I going to float in complete silence and darkness for an entire hour? The Float As someone who needs to be doing something at all times, I found the first however-many-minutes to be agonizing. Like a true first-timer, it took me a while to get over the fact that I was actually going to relax with nothing to distract me. After lying there in pure darkness for a while, wondering what I&amp;#039;d gotten myself into and how long it would be before someone came in and murdered me, I decided to turn on the star-like lights at the top of the tank. But it wasn&amp;#039;t working for me. If I was going to do this, I had to do it 100 percent. So I convinced myself that my\u00A0pod was safe and I could relax. And once I got over the weirdness of being in such an isolated environment, the one thing I really wanted finally happened: My mind shut off. It was pure bliss. I had no idea how much time had passed, and with my ears slightly below the water, the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat. Thanks to the buoyancy of the salt, I felt like I was floating through space with absolutely no gravity to hold me down. I started to not be able to tell the difference between the water and my skin; everything was one. At one point I remember it felt like I was floating in glue. I wasn&amp;#039;t thinking about work, money, or what I was going to make for dinner once I got home. The one thing I do remember thinking about was life \u2014 what I wanted, how I felt about it, and the meaning of it in general. And that&amp;#039;s the whole point of sensory deprivation therapy, aka restricted environmental simulation therapy (REST): allow the body and mind to experience an environment that has zero stimulation. Studies have looked at REST as a potential treatment for everything from high blood pressure to addiction, anxiety disorders to sports injuries, but I found it to be a pretty effective treatment for, well, modern life. Then music started playing in the tank. At first, I was incredibly out of it. Then I slowly came back to reality and sat up, knowing my 60-minute session was over. I fiddled around for the light switch, blinded myself once I turned them on, and stepped out of the tank feeling a mix of rejuvenation and confusion.  The Aftermath After showering and getting the salt water out of my hair, I said my goodbyes. And I&amp;#039;ve gotta say \u2014 as calming as the tank was, the next 24 hours were even better. I felt relaxed at a level I haven&amp;#039;t felt since I was probably a kid. You know, long before I knew what responsibilities were. And that feeling lasted all night and through the next day. I woke up before my alarm (gasp!) in the most peaceful way imaginable. My eyes slowly opened, and for the first time in months, I wasn&amp;#039;t completely mentally drained. Unfortunately, everything was pretty much back to normal a couple days later (besides the faint smell of salt water left behind in my hair), but now I know exactly why there are thousands of people who use REST on the regular. It&amp;#039;s hard to shut off in this day and age, but when you do, there&amp;#039;s nothing better. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.drozthegoodlife.com/healthy-lifestyle/mental-health/a1590/sensory-deprivation-tank/>